Crackdown on Peaceful Protesters Mars Beginning of Presidential Campaign Season

THEOBSERVATORY – JOINT PRESS RELEASE

Paris - Geneva - Minsk, May 13, 2020 – The campaign season for Belarus’ presidentialelections, scheduled for August 9, saw sweeping repression against civilsociety by authorities. Over the past week, authorities arbitrarily detainedover 100 peaceful protesters across Belarus, charging them with administrativefines and arrests. The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders(FIDH-OMCT) and Viasna Human Rights Centerurge the Belarusian authorities to put an end to the persecution of peacefulcivil society activists and release those who are detained.

The electoral campaigning began last week in Belarus, with thepresidential election scheduled for August 9. In this context, a wave ofpeaceful protests against the policy pursued by the government took placeacross the country. Authorities responded to the protests with mass arrests,violatingthe rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly as enshrined inArticles 19 and 21 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights(ICCPR) ratified by Belarus in 1973.

On May 6, the police arbitrarily detainedblogger and activist Sergey Tsikhanovskyafter he announced hisintention to run for the presidency and organized a meeting with hissupporters. Dozens of Tsikhanovsky’s supporters took to the streets toprotest against his arrest and were themselves arbitrarily detained in thefollowing days. At least 38 individualswere fined or sentenced to up to 15 days of detention on charges of violatingthe procedure for holding a protest (Article 23.34 of the Code of AdministrativeOffences of Belarus). Among the detained is Viasna’s activist Aliaksandr Burakou .

“During the last month, the authorities haveamplified repression against our organization, arbitrarily detaining three ofour members and opening criminal cases against two others. The authorities putpressure on our colleagues in retaliation for their civil activities to defendBelarusians’ rights to a healthy environment, peaceful assembly and access toinformation”,deplores FIDH Vice President Valiantsin Stefanovic.

Two Viasna activists, Alena Masliukova and Uladzimir Vialichkin, arebeing judicially harassed in the context of the repression of environmentalprotest movements in different cities of Belarus. Alena Masliukova facescriminal charges related to her campaign against the construction of ableached-pulp factory in Svetlogorsk. Uladzimir Vialichkin, who facesadministrative charges, was arbitrary detained on May 10 while he wasmonitoring a protest against the construction of a battery plant in Brest.

Concerned with preserving the incumbent president Lukashenko'sprospects in the next election, the authorities maintained an annual VictoryDay parade on May 9 and withhold covid-19 facts from media and the public,putting the public’s health at risk.

Chairman of ViasnaHuman Rights Centre Ales Bialiatski compared the policy of the Belarusiangovernment to that of the Soviet elites: “The Soviet leaders maintainedthe 1986 parade despite the Chernobyl nuclear accident that severely hitBelarus. In the same manner, the current Belarus authorities pursue theirpolitical goals in neglect of the health and political freedoms of Belaruscitizens, stifling critical voices of the civil society.”

On May 8, in protestagainst the authorities’ decision to maintain the parade despite the pandemic,activists from the Youth Bloc—a coalition of a youth candidates for BelarusianParliament—carried a coffin along Independence Avenue where the official paraderehearsal took place. The day before, another protest was staged on VictorySquare: against the background of a signboard stating "The feat of thepeople is immortal", activists carried signs retorting, "Butwe are not." Four of theactivists were subsequently detained; two of them, Danila Lauretski and LizaPrakopchyk, were sentenced to 13 and 5 days of detention respectively forviolating the established procedure for holding a protest (Article 23.34 of theCode of Administrative Offences of Belarus).

“In the context of the electoral campaign, themassive crackdown on civil society, including Viasna, one of the country’sleading human rights groups which ensured independent monitoring during the previous elections, is particularlyalarming. The possibilities for monitoring of the elections by independentinternational observers are limited due to the pandemic. Considering a longhistory of human rights abuses by the Belarus authorities and the authoritariannature of the government, these developments make us fear that the situationwith political freedoms in Belarus will only worsen as the elections approach”, said Gerald Staberock, OMCT Secretary General.

The Observatory for the Protection of HumanRights Defenders (FIDH-OMCT) and Viasna call on the Belarus authorities tocomply with its international obligations by freeing the detained activists andputting an end to the harassment of peaceful protesters, including Viasnamembers.

Presscontact:
· FIDH: Ms. Eva Canan (English, French), +33 6 48 05 91 57 / Email: ecanan@fidh.org (Paris)
· OMCT: Ms. Iolanda Jaquemet +41 79 539 41 06 / Email : ij@omct.org (Geneva)

The Observatory for the Protection ofHuman Rights Defenders (the Observatory) was created in 1997 by FIDH and theWorld Organisation Against Torture (OMCT). The objective of this programme isto intervene to prevent or remedy situations of repression against human rightsdefenders. FIDH and OMCT are both members of ProtectDefenders.eu, the European Union Human RightsDefenders Mechanism implemented by international civil society.